Christy Wyckoff at Blackfish Gallery

Monday was Sidney day but before we picked him up we stopped by to visit Christy and Laura Wyckoff to see Christy’s new work. The work hit several chords with me, so I thought I’d share. He is one of three artists showing at Blackfish Gallery during the month of February (opening February 1) along with the sculpture of Kanetaka Ikeda and the paintings of Seattle painter Alan Lau.

I took a class from Christy at Sitka Center several years ago and learned a) I’d never be a print maker and b) he is a gifted and original artist who works with an obsessive eye to detail. The new work bears that out. He is working on using prints he made earlier, cutting and then weaving the prints together in a new way. In the show he will show the original print for each…like this (apologies for the bad photos)

and then the new work wherein he has cut prints and rewoven the image with different colorways

the work is painstaking, detail oriented (and maybe a little OCD) and beautiful…

He began years ago with a print that he wanted to rim the edges off of to get a bleed all the way to the margins…and then used the trimmed parts to make something new…it’s wrapped in plastic, but you get the idea…

He explained the process to Roger and showed us the three paintings that will be included in the show…

plus additionally he showed us some old litho stones he has…

including this one from William Givler with a Givler image on it…(Givler taught at the Museum Art School in the 1930’s and 1940’s and revived an interest in print-making and lithography in Portland after he studied in NYC at the Art Students League)

The idea of reusing older work in a new format and as a springboard to something different from earlier intent is very appealing to me, and maybe any of us who have a backlog of work in the flat file. These are all very handsome and intricate. All three artists showing at Blackfish in February will be talking about their work on February 24th at Blackfish Gallery, 420 NW 9th, Portland. Go take a look.

And then, when we got to the kitchen there was this beautiful painting…

Beautiful work! Thank you for sharing. I was inspired to go look at his website. Wow! Sticks and stones….the ordinary becomes extraordinary. What are those wood strips on the wall for? This can’t be his painting studio, is it? It’s so clean!

Very cool concept of revitalizing art. I love going OCD on a painting because you know what they say: “It’s all about the journey, not the destination”; and that way you get to enjoy it a little bit longer. Nice post!